9.  The applicant has been a member of the Athens Bar since 1960. He stood in the parliamentary elections of 9 April 2000 in the first constituency of Athens as a candidate on the Nea Dimorkatia party’s list. He obtained 44,387 votes and was elected as a member of parliament for a four-year term by decision no. 799/2000 of the Athens Court of First Instance.
10.  On 18 February 2003 Mrs Apostolou, a voter in that constituency, lodged a complaint against the applicant with the Special Supreme Court, the judicial body which, under Articles 58 and 100 of the Constitution, had jurisdiction, inter alia, to remove a member of parliament from office in the event of disqualification. Mrs Apostolou referred, in particular, to the incompatibility between the office of a member of parliament and the fact that the applicant was practising as a lawyer. This incompatibility had been enshrined in the Constitution for the first time on the occasion of a constitutional revision in 2001. The new Article 57 of the Constitution now states that the duties of a member of parliament are incompatible with all professional activity, although it does provide for the introduction of exceptions through legislation. However, the implementing legislation was never enacted, since, according to information submitted by the applicant, the Chamber of Deputies voted against the draft law in February 2003. Article 115 § 7 of the revised Constitution indicated that the rule on disqualification in question would come into force once the implementing legislation provided for in Article 57 had been enacted and, at the latest, on 1 January 2003 (see paragraph 16 below).
11.  The hearing before the Special Supreme Court was held on 7 May 2003. Before that court, the applicant alleged, inter alia, that there had been a violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 and argued that, until such time as the implementing legislation provided for in Article 57 of the Constitution had been enacted, the disqualification could not be applied. He also claimed that the disqualification could not be applied to members of parliament who had been elected prior to the revision of the Constitution. Submitting several documents in evidence, he added that he had ceased receiving fees as of 1 January 2003 and that he was carrying out his activities free of charge, with the result that he could not be deemed to be practising a profession within the meaning of Article 57.
12.  On 3 July 2003, by judgment no. 11/2003, the Special Supreme Court allowed Mrs Apostolou’s complaint and ruled that the applicant had forfeited his seat. In particular, the court dismissed the applicant’s argument that he could not be deemed to be practising his profession because he had not received fees for his services since the rule on disqualification had come into force. However, three members of the court considered that “the concept of practising a profession is very closely linked to receipt of an income, particularly through a systematic and long-term activity carried out for the purpose of ensuring [the individual’s] livelihood”. With regard to the other arguments raised by the applicant, the Special Supreme Court found as follows:
“... [A]s is clear from Articles 115 § 7 and 57 § 1, paragraph 3, of the Constitution, the constituent body, in adopting the rule whereby the duties of a member of parliament are incompatible with the exercise of any profession, did so not only with a view to ensuring the independence of members of parliament, but also to ensure that the latter are able to carry out their duties in the best possible conditions and without distraction ... At the same time, the Constitution delegated to Parliament the power to introduce exceptions to the [general] rule of professional disqualification, in other words, the power to list those professional activities which would be compatible with the duties of a member of parliament ... In addition, [the same provisions state that] the rule establishing the incompatibility between the duties of a member of parliament and the practising of any profession was to come into force, at the latest, on 1 January 2003 ..., even if the law indicating the professional activities that are compatible with the duties of a member of parliament had not been enacted by that date ... The only consequence of the failure to enact this legislation ... is that the rule on disqualification for members of parliament is applicable, without exception, from 1 January 2003 ... Further, the argument put forward by the applicant in his submissions to the effect that the disqualification is not applicable to members of the current Chamber of Deputies, since this would be contrary to the constitutional principle of legitimate expectation, must be dismissed as unfounded, especially since a constitutional provision cannot be set aside on the ground that it is contrary to another provision or principle of the same Constitution. This follows from the formal equality of all provisions of the Constitution and the principles arising from them, which requires that each constitutional provision be applied in a binding manner with regard to the specific area which it governs ...”
13.  In July 2003 the applicant was replaced as a member of the Chamber of Deputies by the first substitute on his party’s list for the first constituency of Athens.